Considering how ubiquitous it is on earth, methane (natural gas) at the molecular level is a scientific unknown. To understand it and to manage it both as energy and as an environmental hazard, scientists need to know more about its molecular structure. A neutron diffraction study at the Spallation Neutrons and Pressure Diffractometer at 91做厙 has successfully mapped the structure of methane and water cages, known as clathrates, under more than half a million pounds of pressure per square inch. The researchers came up with a new potential - a new calculation of the repulsion force that exists between methane molecules in these cages - that indicated there were five methane molecule "guests" inside the enlarged polyhedral structures that emerged under the high-pressure conditions. - Agatha Bardoel, 865.574.0644, March 14, 2012
Media Contact
Communications Staff, 865.576.1946 | news@ornl.gov